Rice sales to fall as price scares off buyers

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation

Rice Exporters Association president Chookiat Ophaswongse said Thailand's rice exports would decline from about 1 million tonnes last month to 800,000 tonnes this month. The rising rice price will push down export volume to even less than that next month.

"Rice exporters have become much more careful about not taking orders unless they have sufficient stock to fill the orders. This is a key factor in the export slowdown, apart from the rising price in the global market," he said.

Despite fears of shortages at home, Chookiat agreed with the authorities that shortages would be impossible if no more than 9 million tonnes of rice were exported this year.

Chookiat expects the rice price to remain at the present rate for a while after Thailand failed to sell 60,000 tonnes of high-quality rice to Japan on Tuesday. Thailand quoted a price of US$1,300 (Bt40,800) per tonne.

However, if the Philippines must pay a higher price for additional rice in the next bidding on May 5, the price could soar again, he said. The escalation will continue if Iran and Indonesia move to buy a big batch of rice in international bidding. Those two countries' orders would increase the price as well as the export volume, Chookiat said.

"Thailand has a good opportunity to win the bidding, because it's difficult for those two countries to buy rice from China, which has expressed concern that its supply may not meet its own domestic demand," he said.

Thailand's rice exports increased sharply in the first two months after some rice-exporting countries, including Vietnam, India, Egypt, and Cambodia, prohibited rice exports, which caused insufficient supply in the global market.

The volume of rice exports in the first two months was 1.87 million tonnes. The value was Bt26.172 billion, up 70 per cent from the same period last year.